Wednesday, May 2, 2012

More Deets for "The Writer's Voice"!!!!


“The Writer’s Voice” is a multi-blog, multi-agent contest hosted by Cupid of Cupid’s Literary Connection, Brenda Drake of Brenda Drake Writes, Monica B.W. of Love YA, and Krista Van Dolzer of Mother. Write. (Repeat.). We’re basing it on NBC’s singing reality show The Voice, so the four of us will serve as coaches and select projects for our teams based on their queries and first pages.


Here’s the timeline:

May 3
Everyone submits their entries
May 3-10
We select our team members from “The Writer’s Voice” Blogfest
May 10-17
We coach our team members, helping them polish their entries
May 17
We post our team members’ entries on our blogs
May 21
Agents vote for their favorites

Since submissions will open tomorrow, here are a few more details as to how that will work:

The Genres

To enter “The Writer’s Voice,” your manuscript must meet two conditions: First, it must be COMPLETE, POLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the following genres:

Adult Fantasy
Adult Science Fiction
Adult Romance
YA fiction (all subgenres)
MG fiction (all subgenres)

Submission Windows

We’ll accept entries in two time slots. The first submission window will open at 9:00 a.m. EDT on Thursday, May 3, and will close once we receive 75 entries. The second submission window will open at 9:00 p.m. EDT on the same day and will close once we receive another 75 entries.

The Widget

We’ll accept submissions via one of Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets, which we’ll post on all four of our blogs on May 3. The widget will appear on our blogs at the same time and will sync with the other copies that appear on the other three blogs. So if Bobbie Sue goes to Cupid’s blog and signs up for the number five slot over there, she’ll show up in the number five slot on Brenda’s, Monica’s, and Krista’s blogs, too. In other words, it doesn’t matter which blog you use to sign up; the widget that appears on one of them is the same widget that appears on all of them.

Please note that WE’RE ONLY ACCEPTING 75 ENTRIES IN THE FIRST SUBMISSION WINDOW even though we’re programming the widget to accept 150 entries total, so if more than 75 people sign up tomorrow morning, WE WILL DELETE THE ADDITIONAL ENTRIES and ask those people to try again in the second submission window.

Posting Your Entry and Sending It to Us

Securing a slot in the widget is your confirmation that you’re in the contest. Once you’ve secured that slot (or in other words, once you’ve signed up for the blogfest), you’ll post THE PLOT SUMMARY FROM YOUR QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript on your blog. Then you’ll send your query, first 250 words, and A LINK TO YOUR BLOG POST in the body of an e-mail to TheWritersVoiceContest(at)gmail(dot)com, with your blogfest number, title, and genre in the subject line.

In summary, you must follow these three steps to enter:

1. Sign up for the blogfest/secure a slot in the widget during one of the submission windows listed above.
2. Post the plot summary from your query and the first 250 words of your manuscript on your blog.
3. Send your plot summary, first 250 words, and a link to your blog post to TheWritersVoiceContest(at)gmail(dot)com, with your blogfest number, title, and genre in the subject line.

If you make it into the blogfest, please post your entry and send it to our e-mail address as quickly as possible. We just want to have plenty of time to review all the entries. Also, the e-mail address will send you an automated response to let you know we received your entry, so keep an eye out for that.

We think that about covers it. If you have any questions about the rest of the process, please refer to our last post about the contest. And if you have any last-minute questions about tomorrow’s submissions, feel free to ask them in the comments below.

20 comments:

  1. One additional question: if we're just posting the plot summary of our query, do you want us to list the novel's title, genre, and wordcount above, like we did for the Blind Speed Dating contest? Thanks!

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    1. I don't think exact formatting will be a huge issue since we're only choosing 10 each to actually format to our blogs, and we'll probably be working with those entries before posting anyway. Just make sure to only include the meat of the query. We don't need all the rest.

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  2. Exactly what information do we need to submit through the Mr. Linky widget? Name and email? Rank and serial number? Genre? Blog post title? GPS coordinates for the secret buried treasure? Just curious what we'll need to use the widget. Thanks! Can't wait!

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    1. The widget asks for your name and link to your blog.

      If you know the GPS coordinates for a secret buried treasure please email them to me ASAP! lol

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  3. *raises hand* I have a question! PIck me! Pick me!

    I'm going to just assume you did :) When the agent votes for their favorite, is that just a vote or is it a request? I'm just asking because I was in your agent invasion contest and Taylor Martindale invaded and although she liked my query, she already had something similar to it. I also recently queried two of the agents on the list and haven't heard back from them yet. I was just wondering because I wouldn't want you or any of the other host to lose out on votes (that is if I even get picked). Not sure if this makes any sense...

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    Replies
    1. Good question, let me run it by the judges. :)

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    2. Only a request counts as a vote unless that agent already has that specific manuscript in her TBR folder. Then she can mention that she still has it and is interested and that will count as a vote.

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  4. Since this will be my first time participating in the contest, I have a question about how the widget will show up on the fours blogs:

    1. Will the widget show up automatically on all blogs without refreshing/reloading the browser?

    2. Or do we need to reload/refresh our browsers for the widget to show up on the blogs?

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Okay EVERYONE!!!!

      At exactly 9 am EDT (first submission window) and 9 pm EDT (second window) a blog post will pop up on all four blogs at the same time. At the bottom of this blog post there will be the Mr. Linky widget where you will enter your name and url to your blog. Hit enter and check what number your name pops up as.

      Any more questions? Please ask now!

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    2. Thank you for the clarification, I'm looking forward to the contest!

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  5. How long is too long to send the emails if you are lucky to get a slot? Is a few hours alright?

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    1. I have the same question :)

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    2. Yes, that should be fine! Just make sure you get it in that same day as soon as you can!

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  6. so.. at 9am or PM.. we jump into a widget and sign up.. then, if we get in, we send an email to an email address that u give us, and send a blog with the requirements?? correct?

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  7. Cupid,
    I'm freaking out because I forgot to put my blog link in the email. I sent it again with my link a few minutes later, but never recieved a confirmation. Did you get it? Am I still in?
    (#57)

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  8. I sent my email and didn't receive a confirmation either. Just wondering if it should have come right away or if something went wrong. #111

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  9. I did not receive a confirmation e-mail for my submission either as of this morning (I submitted my e-mail at about 9:15 last night). #148, wondering if I should re-submit. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I went ahead and re-submitted. This time I did receive the confirmation e-mail. Thanks!

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